


A Rough Draft

by TheLittleMarchHare (freckleder)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 08:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1380907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckleder/pseuds/TheLittleMarchHare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco is a journalist and when he got told that his work is going to be published as a novel he ends up in a coffee shop trying to put his thoughts on paper. Nevertheless he seems to be distracted by a certain waiter there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An arbitrary choice

"Flying On Our Own Wings"

It was a chilly Wednesday evening and Marco was extremely reluctant to leave his cosy apartment and step out into the cold. With a sigh he put his warm coat on, adjusted his glasses and wrapped a scarf around his neck. Today had been an uneventful day at the office so he had managed to go home early. Nevertheless he couldn’t call it a day, there were still things that needed to be done.

  
The first thing on his list was something that made him excited and anxious at the same time, Marco still hadn’t decided yet. Last week a colleague of his had handed one of the drafts he had written in his free time to an editor, who had called him to tell him that they had decided to publish that story as a short novel. Just like that. He was still struggling to believe this but after a few meetings with said editor it was dawning to him that this was not supposed to be a joke.

  
He did work as a journalist, but that couldn’t compare to writing a whole book and he had no idea where to start so he decided to follow the cliché of every writer and find a nice coffee shop to work in. Maybe the atmosphere there was going to help him find a proper start. Also it seemed like a nice place to spend time at, considering the weather outside.  
He was looking for a place that wasn’t too crowded and noisy, so he walked through the small alleys of his town. After a few minutes he found a coffee shop he had never been to before, but it seemed inviting so he decided to give it a try. He could always order a coffee-to-go if he didn’t like it. The journalist entered and walked up to the counter to order his drink. Two people were working there and a few customers sat sprawled across the room. All in all it wasn’t too busy which was really important to him so the brunet chose to stay. There were two more people in the queue but usually everyone just took their drink with them to gulp it down while heading to work. Marco was meanwhile observing his surroundings, already choosing the table he wanted to sit at.

  
Finally it was his turn to order and he moved forward, when the person in front of him stepped aside and he got a view of the waiter. Marco had to admit that he was pretty good looking for a waiter, with his undercut, his slim face and his casual smile.

“What can I get you?”

Marco thought for a moment. “A large cappuccino, please.” ‘And also your phone number’, he added mentally but he’d never dare to say that.

“Alright, and your name is...?”

“Oh eh...It’s Marco”, he answered after a moment. ‘God, I’m so stupid. Now I look like an idiot who can’t remember his name.’ The undercut guy scribbled it with a pen on his cup but didn’t give him a weird look. He rather looked like he couldn’t care less.

  
Marco walked on to the guy at the register, watching the undercut guy prepare his cappuccino. After he paid, the undercut guy placed the hot drink in front of him. “There you go.” Then he turned to the next costumer waiting in the queue. Marco picked it up carefully and carried the drink along with his laptop case to the table he had in mind, which was fortunately still not occupied. He started his laptop and took a sip of his coffee, trying not to burn himself.  
He spent the next few hours at the coffee shop and realized why it was such a popular place for authors to write in. The faint smell of coffee, the quiet chatter from guests entering the shop, the rustling of newspapers and clattering of plates, it seemed extremely calming to him and left him in a comfortable place. And also they had free Wi-Fi.  
During his stay he took some time to glance at the waiters, of course trying not to be too obvious. Marco was still mad at himself that he hadn’t looked at the guy’s name tag so he had no idea how the handsome undercut-guy was called. Even though he looked so unenthusiastically he was actually really clumsy, Marco noticed, and he often spilled something and once he tripped over his own feet.

  
The other guy had really short hair, almost completely shorn off. He was always joking around and laughed a lot. He was also constantly texting someone and from time to time he’d nudge the undercut-guy and showed him probably one of the messages he had just received.

  
The brunet took another sip out of his cup and concentrated on the screen. He wasn’t here to check people out, he needed to get some more writing done. He had written a lot but always deleted the beginning because he was not satisfied with how it turned out. Why was it so hard to start writing, usually all the words just came on their own? He sighed and rubbed his temples. After a few hours and two cups of coffee Marco decided that it was time to go home again, he had been productive after all.

The next day Marco decided to continue writing on his novel again, the more he got done right at the beginning the better. The journalist marched, armed with his laptop case, through the cold afternoon wind, not letting the nasty weather bother him. Nevertheless he sighed in relieve when he finally arrived at the coffee shop. He had gone to the same one, first of all because he liked the idea of having a regular place he always went to and he was also a creature of habit. Another reason may be that there was a chance the hot waiter was there again and he certainly didn’t want to miss that.

  
He was lucky, the undercut-guy was there again, so Marco assumed that he was working the whole week at the coffee shop. The brunet ordered once again a cappuccino and offered the guy a shy smile. He smiled back but he asked for his name again which probably meant that he hadn’t remembered it from the last day. Marco was a little bummed out about that but on the other hand there were so many customers every day, he couldn’t expect the other guy to remember every single name.

  
The guy with the extremely short haircut was there too, once again handing him the bill. Marco paid and walked to the same table he sat the day before. Like he had mentioned before, he was a creature of habit.

  
While he was working he just couldn’t stop himself from stealing a glance at the waiter now and then, only to duck behind his laptop when he thought he was being caught. Marco noticed that he was wearing a watch on his right arm and he couldn’t help wondering why he wasn’t wearing it on his left arm like everyone else. He wasn’t left-handed, Marco had figured that out pretty fast, and it bugged him that he didn’t know what was up with his watch.

  
Right when he was in the middle of coming up with a reasonable theory his phone suddenly rang. His boss had called, letting him know that there had just happened a huge accident and he had to come back to the office because he needed someone to change the headlines and write about this catastrophe. Of course Marco couldn’t say no to his boss, so he packed his things and made his way back to the office. This was one of the stressful parts of being a journalist, you always had to be on call in case something interesting happened and needed to be reported.

  
When he arrived everyone was busy with work, given it was evening and already getting late. He was about to walk to his boss’s office when someone called him.

“Hey, Marco!”

He turned around, facing Reiner and Annie. “Hey guys, still working?”

“Yes, and apparently you are back here. Are you in charge of the accident article?” Reiner asked.

“It seems like I am”, Marco pointed to the camera around Annie’s neck. “Where you two at the crash scene?”

“Just got back, we’ll send you the material over”, Reiner answered.

“Thanks, just give me a second. I still have to talk to the boss about the whole scenario. By the way, why is Bertholdt not with you guys?” Marco was confused that someone from the trio was missing, they usually stuck together.

“Wait, what?” Reiner looked as confused as Marco and turned around quickly. “Wasn’t he just behind me?”

“He still has to be at the place of accident.” Annie said, also turning around.

“He was in the car, Annie, wasn’t he?” The blond one was scratching the back of his head nervously.

Annie wrinkled her nose for a moment while she was thinking. “Now that you mention it, I can’t remember him getting in.”

“You forgot him there?” Marco raised his eyebrows in disbelieve. Just in that moment Reiner’s phone rang and he reluctantly picked it up.

“Hey, Bertholdt, where are you?”

“We? Uhm..we are...how do I put it?..somewhere else..”

“What, no we didn’t!”

“Yes. Yes, calm down. We’re already on our way, just wait a sec.”

“I swear to god, it was not. Please don’t cry Bertholdt, we’ll be there right away.” Reiner hung up and sighed.“He thinks we left him there on purpose. Why does he always have to be such a nervous wreck?”

Annie shrugged but added nothing.

  
‘Interesting’, Marco thought. As a journalist it was in his nature to be curious and since the trio had joined the company he had been eager to figure out whether Annie was going out with Bertholdt or Reiner. He was certain that she was dating one of them but he couldn’t tell which one. He clearly couldn’t ask the guys, what if he got the wrong one. But he also couldn’t ask Annie because she’d kill him and make it look like an accident. So he resolved to do his own investigations and tried to figure it out on his own but he hadn’t been quite as successful as he wanted to.

  
They all trotted off, Reiner and Annie on their way to retrieve Bertholdt and Marco stopped by his boss’s office to get the main instructions.  
After gathering all the information that was necessary he started rather reluctantly to work on his article. He wished he could’ve stayed longer at the coffee shop, of course to write his novel, not for other reasons. What was he thinking? The hours went by and eventually almost everyone went home already, he was along with his boss and Reiner the only ones still left. After Marco had finished writing the article, Reiner edited it and gave it the final touch. Marco’s head was throbbing painfully and he was looking forward to leaving the office and stepping out in the cold.

  
They knocked at their boss’s office to tell him that they had finished for today. “Well done, you two. I’ll do the final check up and I suggest you two get going so you can grab as much sleep as you can get. I’ll see you tomorrow, good night.”

They were both leaving the building together, talking calmly.

“That was the first time in forever that the boss wasn’t grumpy, wasn’t it?” Reiner mentioned.

Marco nodded. “That’s true, he rarely says any kind words. But I guess you do have to grow a thicker skin if you are managing a whole department, I don’t think that’s an easy thing to do.”

“You’re right, not many people get to be in such a high position.” He fumbled through his jacket pockets and pulled out some cigarettes. “Cigarette?”

Marco shook his head. “I don’t smoke, remember?”

“Oh, right. I’m sorry, I keep forgetting.” He lit his cigarette and put the other one back. “I think you’d be good for the job.”

“Which one do you mean?”

Reiner exhaled and smoke was swirling around the air for a second. “Being department manager. It suits you, you’re adaptable and dynamic.”

“What, no? I think I’m not made for that kind of work”, he replied, adjusting his glasses. “I’d be too soft, everyone would just do as they like and not listen to me.”

“I don’t think so, but you’ll figure that out eventually.” He gave Marco a pat on his shoulder. “I’ll be going home now, so see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you.” Marco smiled as Reiner strode off. He saw him wave at another person in the distance. Was that Bertholdt? He couldn’t see far enough to be certain but his height did indicate that it could be him. Weird, had he been waiting for Reiner until now? Marco was sure that he had just imagined things and he rubbed his eyes sleepily. He really needed to get some sleep.

The next day nothing out of the ordinary happened, and Marco decided to only stop by for a short time at the coffee shop. He was still tired from the day before and he wasn’t in the mood for writing on his novel. The weather seemed to get colder and he predicted that it was going to start snowing in a few days. When he walked in the coffee shop he could already make out the familiar faces of the two waiters, which confirmed his theory of them working from Monday to Friday. He ordered, as usual, a cappuccino and this time the other guy showed again no sign of remembering his name. He seemed to not be in a good mood in general and Marco didn’t blame him. It was Friday and he imagined that working at a coffee shop also took its toll on you, not all customers were that easy to deal with.

  
He sat down, this time without taking out his laptop. Instead he pulled out a newspaper from his bag. At least that’s what he tried to, but apparently the paper seemed to be stuck. Marco didn’t want to put the whole content of his bag out so he just pulled a bit harder. With a jolt and a ripping sound the newspaper came free, causing Marco to accidently slam his elbow against the table.

Marco desperately tried to catch his cup of coffee which started to shake dangerously but it was too late. It fell over the edge of the table, splashing on the ground and spreading coffee everywhere.

  
“Dammit!” Marco cursed and quickly picked his bag up before the coffee puddle could reach it. Why did this have to happen to him out off all people? He couldn’t leave the table just like that, the whole floor was soiled. With a sigh he put it on the table and walked up to the counter.

  
“E-excuse me...I...might have accidently spilled my coffee”, he admitted reluctantly.

The undercut-guy gave him an annoyed look. “Great, right when I thought this day couldn’t get any better.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm and he picked up a bucket and started to fill it with hot water.

“Ehm, it’s alright, I can clean it up myself if you give me the bucket,” Marco hurried to say.

The other guy ignored him and watched the water run from the tab into the bucket. He added a cleaning agent and walked past Marco to his table with a mop in his other hand.

“I can honestly clean it up myself, please let me help”, Marco said again, feeling even more embarrassed than he had already.

“Tch, just moved already and let me clean this mess up.” He plunged the mop into the bucket and started to sweep the floor with little enthusiasm.

“Alright, again, I’m so sorry.” Marco felt really bad, the other guy was already having a terrible day and he had only made it worse. He wanted to offer his help but he was afraid that when he asked again he would be drowned in the bucket so he just watched the undercut-guy cleaning up the mess he had made.

After he had finished he turned around to Marco who was just awkwardly standing there. “Come on, I’ll get you a new cup.”

“Oh, that’s really nice but you don’t have to”, Marco refused politely.

“Yes, I have to so just say what you want already”, he was still annoyed, the journalist could tell.

“I-I’ll get another cappuccino then, please.”

He nodded and wanted to pick up the mop and bucket, but Marco was faster. He carried both items back, even though the other guy protests at first. He felt guilty for making extra work so at least he helped a little bit. The guy prepared another cup of coffee for him and Marco finally got a chance to look at his nametag. It said ‘Jean K.’ in bold letters. ‘Jean, Jean...’ Marco said it in his mind over and over again and he had to admit that it had a nice ring to it. After Jean had handed him his coffee the other one walked back to his table and picked his laptop case up. Marco was too embarrassed to stay and have Jean look at him with that annoyed expression so he decided to go home already. Nevertheless he felt bad for causing so much trouble therefore he walked up to the counter again.

“What is it now? Don’t tell me you spilled that drink too?” Marco was sure that you’d get fired if you’d talk to customers that way at other places.

“N-no, I just wanted to give you a small tip because you went through all that trouble.” He handed him a five dollar bill.

“No, I honestly can’t accept that”, Jean said.

“I insist, you had to clean up that mess after all.”

“I said no, just keep it.”

“And I said I insist, so just take it.” Marco laid the money on the counter, turned around and walked out. Why did he have to be so stubborn, he had only tried to be nice. Nevertheless he decided that he could never set a foot in that coffee shop again, he was too flustered and embarrassed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that is the title of the story, I only realized later that it sounded like the fic was just a rough draft but no that's supposed to be the title.  
> Be prepared for bad clichès and a lot of references in the next chapters and I hope you enjoyed this one.  
> Also I couldn't resist making Marco wear glasses.
> 
> English is not my first language so feel free to point out any mistakes I made. That's all I have to say so have a nice night or day and thank you so much for reading.


	2. Make me choose

"To be, rather than to seem"

 

Marco stared at his own reflection. With a sceptic look he removed his glasses and put them down on the sink. His complexion was bad and it looked even worse without his glasses. He put his palms on his cheeks and squished them. Why did he have to have those stupid freckles? They made him look five years younger. His glasses had a squared shape and a black frame, he purposely chose that design so they’d cover up a lot of his face and hide his annoying freckles.

Last week he didn’t dare to go near the coffee shop, but this Friday he decided that he didn’t care anymore and that he’d just go there. Marco had an extremely busy day at work, hadn’t got much sleep the day before and was too tired to deny himself the pleasure of looking at someone that hot. He wasn’t going to take a seat, only get a coffee-to-go. It has been two weeks since he had last been there so he assumed the undercut-guy - no wait, he actually had a name – that Jean had already forgotten how he spilled his cup of coffee everywhere.

At work he came up with a plan. If Jean didn’t show any signs of recognising him, then he most likely didn’t remember, so he could go there again. If he’d give him a strange look or said something to him then he’d have to find another coffee shop and act like he never even went to that one.

Even though this sounded like a neat idea he couldn’t help being concerned and therefore he was now standing in front of the mirror at his office’s bathroom and desperately tried to make himself look different. He couldn’t see much without his glasses, but he had always had his contacts with him just in case he forgot or broke his glasses. On the bridge of his nose were still the imprints of them, but he didn’t mind. He was positive that he wasn’t so easy to recognize without them framing his face. On the other hand his freckles would be more visible, but since it was winter they weren’t as prominent as in summer. They still covered his complete nose and his cheeks, but at least his forehead was freckle-free. It didn’t take him long to insert his contact lenses, he had gotten quite good at it over the years. At first the thought of touching his eyes gave him goose bumps and not in an exciting way, but he had gotten used to it.

Marco ruffled through his hair. Should he change his hairstyle? He tried to swipe his bangs to one side and make them look messier in general , but it just looked as if he had gotten into a fight with a lawnmower that morning so he resolved to leave them as they were. He could wear a beanie or a cap but he thought he always looked ridiculous with these so they were also not an option.

Right when he was in the middle of fumbling around with his hair the door to the bathroom opened.

“What are you doing there?” Reiner had just walked in and stared at him.

“Oh,I-I...was just looking at m-my reflection, nothing unusual.” He quickly flattened his hair again and parted his bangs in the middle.

The other one looked slightly confused. “Right...I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Marco felt the heat creep up his cheeks. “I was just finished, no need to worry. I’m about to leave.”

He quickly dashed out of the room, leaving Reiner standing there dumbfounded, only to return a few seconds later to get his glasses that were still laying on the edge of the sink.

Why was it always him who embarrassed himself? Couldn’t this happen to someone else? He sighed and walked back to his office table to gather his belongings and finally leave, not minding the hair.

When Marco got closer to the coffee shop his uneasiness increased and he wasn’t so sure if his idea had been that good. What if he remembered him? Marco could already imagine his irritated look if he showed up again. On the other hand, that was the worst he could do, so basically there was still the option of never coming back if he did remember him. Why was he so concerned of getting a coffee, he behaved like a complete idiot! As if anything depended upon whether this random stranger that worked there was mad at him or not.

Nevertheless he was still struggling with himself when he arrived at the coffee shop, but the decision was already made for him. Marco felt too awkward to just stand in front of the place and turn around and walk away, so he mustered up all his courage to open the door and got in. The familiar smell of coffee immediately assured him that he made the right choice, but he felt his heart beat a little bit faster at the sight of Jean. This time luck was not on his side because there were no other customers waiting at the counter. He gulped and marched forward, reciting his order in his head over and over again. Jean was there and the other guy too, his hair as short as always.

It felt weird to call him Jean, like it was a piece of information that he wasn’t even supposed to know. Wasn’t it strange to call someone by their name when they didn’t even know you? Now he felt like a creep and started to regret coming here again.

“What can I get you?” Marco was startled by his voice. Jean was writing something down and didn’t even look at him.

‘Perfect, maybe he doesn’t even look at me’, Marco thought and couldn’t help but observe him while he was writing.“I’d like a cappuccino, please.”

Jean nodded absently and glanced up for a second. Suddenly he looked up, squinting his eyes together and staring at him.

“What happened to your glasses?” he inquired.

Marco was confused. So he did remember him. “Eh...I’m wearing contacts today.”

“You look weird without them.”

Marco wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that. Had he just been insulted? And why was he looking weird without them, was something wrong with his face?

“Cappuccino was it, right?” Marco nodded and out of a habit unconsciously tried to adjust his glasses which weren’t there anymore, so he ended up pocking himself in the eye. Luckily Jean didn’t seem to notice.

“What was your name again? I’m sorry, I can’t remember it.”

Marco did feel a little sting at that statement but then again, it had been two weeks. “No problem. It’s Marco.”

Jean scribbled it on the cup and prepared his drink, meanwhile he paid the other guy. After the journalist got his drink he headed home again, this time with a big grin on his face. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

When he arrived at home he had a bit of the drink left and when he was about to take another sip he noticed his name scribbled on it. But it couldn’t be his name, the writing was too long. He took a closer look and on the cup was indeed his name but Jean decided to add something so his name said ‘Marco Polo’. He couldn’t help but smile at that.

\--

On Monday Marco stopped by once again, but this time in the morning, to take a cup of coffee with him to work. He was still not confident enough to sit down there so he decided that he’d just enjoy his coffee on the way to work. Once again Jean spoke a few lines with him which made his Monday morning already ten times better. Technically seen he had only asked how he was doing but Marco felt encouraged and even managed to ask him about his weekend. The next day was the exact same, he stopped by in the morning, they talked a little bit and Marco went to work.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he didn’t have time for his morning coffee due to his tight schedule. On Thursday he had a meeting with his editor in the afternoon and their boss at work allowed them to leave work earlier if they started to work earlier in the morning instead. Also there was soon going to be the fiftieth anniversary of a TV show and this week they were all busy writing a huge special about that. Marco had never watched that show so he wasn’t good informed at all, but nevertheless he had an interview with one of the actors scheduled for the next day. After meeting his editor and talking about his progress, he decided to watch some episodes of said show to figure out what it was really about and what people wanted to hear. He hated the feeling of already knowing that it was going to be a tough night but he didn’t like to do things only half-heartedly, so he had to bear with it.

He was pretty pleased with the conversation he had with his editor and he was happy with the result of his first few weeks. So he sat down in front of his TV and inserted the DVD of the first season of the show, a colleague had borrowed him the first three seasons, while musing over his novel and wondering how he should write the next chapter. He ended up getting hooked on the show and watched the entire first season and had already started with the second one when he realized that it was already 4a.m. His job started at 7.30 and the interview was at 11. He knew that he was going to curse himself the next morning after waking up but he couldn’t help it and watched another episode.

He woke up with a pounding headache and immediately wished that he could stay in bed and sleep for another 5 hours, but his alarm clock was merciless. With a groan he sat up, rubbing his eyes, and scuffled to the bathroom. He still remembered how he had declared that his complexion was bad on Monday, but that couldn’t even compare to this day. Luckily his glasses covered the worst of it up so his dark circles wouldn’t scare people in the morning.

Marco was, he had to admit it, extremely excited for the interview since he came to quite like the show he saw yesterday. Nevertheless, it was mandatory for him to act and behave professional, he was a journalist after all. His joy was also slowed down due to the fact that he slept less than 3 hours, but he couldn’t let that show. He tried his best to look cheerful and even when the actor asked if he was alright because he was so pale he just laughed and said that autumn and winter always drained him of any colour. The interview went fine and Marco even managed to get an autograph without coming across as intrusive and bothersome.

After that followed the exciting task of typing everything down and editing it accordingly. When he was finished he was actually relieved to be able to go home, but it turned out that Bertholdt seemed to have trouble finishing his work in time, so he stayed and helped him out. In general it was a custom to assist others if the paper should already be submitted but it isn’t ready yet. First of all because they’d all get scolded by their boss and secondly you might never know when you’re yourself behind schedule. Also Marco felt extremely bad if someone wasn’t able to finish their work and was struggling, but that was probably just him. Therefore he stayed a little bit longer and they completed it together.

\--

When he arrived at the coffee shop he was so tired he felt like he could fall asleep that instant. Nevertheless he forced himself to go inside because he still wanted to change a few things concerning his novel. After talking to his editor he had a list of things that had to be improved or changed, so he decided to get that done as quickly as possible. His headache had gotten worse over the course of the day but maybe a strong coffee was just what he needed.

He greeted Jean but he didn’t feel like talking all too much so he simply ordered a double espresso, hoping his exhaustion would fade away from that. Balancing his hot drink in one hand he staggered to his usual table, where he’d spend the next hour trying to keep his eyes open and form coherent thoughts. The coffee didn’t help much, maybe he has gotten immune to caffeine. Can you even get immune to caffeine? Maybe he should look up if it was possible for his body to get a desensitisation against it.

With a sigh he rested his head on his hands, slowly massaging his temples. He was still waiting for the caffeine to kick in, but that was apparently not going to happen. He should probably go home, he was just going sit there and relax for a second, Marco told himself. He’d be home in a minute.

He was about to get up from his seat, when he suddenly noticed that the whole floor was wet. First he thought that there was a water pipe burst, but on a second gaze he realized that it was in fact coffee that started to spread along the floor. Right after he had noticed it the amount of coffee started to rapidly increase, rising above his ankle and knees. He tried to get out of the coffee shop but it climbed up higher and higher. Marco started to panic and tried to move harder, but he was barely able to move. Soon he needed to swim, when suddenly the actor he had interviewed appeared, riding on a huge fish. He laughed at the sight of Marco struggling and helped him on his fish so he wouldn’t drown. The journalist was utterly confused, he had no idea what was going on. The fish swam out of the coffee shop, outside there was a sea of coffee and in the distance he spotted an island. Right when he wanted to ask what was going on a tall wave washed over them and Marco lost his hold of the fish. He was desperately trying to get up again, but it seemed like the actor didn’t notice that he fell off. He tried to scream but coffee filled his mouth and he coughed while trying to keep his head above it. The actor didn’t hear him and the fish just swam along, leaving Marco behind in the endless sea of coffee. He wanted to shout but he was busy not to drown. He frantically paddled with his arms, but coffee splashed in his face, burning in his eyes and nose.

“Hey.”

Someone was calling him. Had the actor returned? But no one was in sight.

“Hey!”

Something was pulling him. Someone tried to pull him under the water. He struggled to get rid of the hands that held his shoulders with an iron grip. He wasn’t going to drown in a sea of coffee, not like that.

“Marco, for god’s sake wake up!”

Suddenly his eyes opened and he was wide awake. It had been a dream. He was staring at Jean's blurry face and he was staring right back. It were also his hands that he had felt on his shoulders.

“Sorry to wake you up but we’re about to close in ten minutes.” Marco just noticed now how empty the cafe had gotten while he adjusted his glasses. The only other customer besides of him that was still here was an old lady that wore way too heavy makeup and had her hair backcombed in an almost ridiculous manner.

“I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep. I’ll be ready in a moment.” Marco quickly turned his laptop off, noticing the imprints of his keyboard on his right cheek when he looked at his own reflection. He rubbed it, trying to make them disappear in vain.

“Take your time, you’ve still got a few minutes.” Jean sat down next to him.

Marco nodded while putting his things away.

“Tough day at work?” Jean asked.

“Yeah, I didn’t get much sleep last night and today was pretty busy”, Marco explained.

“You don’t look that well, make sure to get some sleep tonight.”

Marco nodded again. “Sure, I just hope tomorrow isn’t going to be such a hassle.”

“You’re working on weekends too? What are you actually doing, if I’m allowed to ask?” Jean inquired carefully.

“I’m a journalist, nothing special”, Marco laughed.

Suddenly Jean’s eyes lit up. “So you travel a lot then?”

“Depends, sometimes more and sometimes less.”

“Where have you been? Was it interesting? Did you meet a lot of people?” Jean asked rapidly.

“I’ve been to a lot of places, it’s actually really exhausting to be honest, but it’s a lot of fun too. But in general I don’t have that much time to wander around other cities, I’m only there for a few days.”

“That sounds awesome, you _have_ to tell me more. As you can already guess, if you’re working at a coffee shop you don’t really get to see the world.” He pointed at the counter.

“Jean, stop slacking off and help me here! I’m sure as hell not going to clean the whole store by myself!” The other guy shouted through the store and held a piece of cloth in the air that was probably meant to be used to scrub the tables.

Jean let out a long sigh. “Yeah, yeah, just give me a sec.”

Ten seconds later the wet rag landed on his head and water was dripping down his hair. Marco laughed while the old lady seating nearby wrinkled her nose in disapproval and proceeded to leave the place.

As soon as she had left Jean shouted “Revenge!” through the coffee shop and tried to dunk the other guy’s head in the bucket with the dirty water but he wasn’t successful.

Marco felt like it was time for him to leave too, so he put on his jacket and grabbed his laptop case. He waved to the two guys and went home, not able to keep himself from smiling. His headache was still present, though not as strong as before. Nevertheless he went to bed early in order to be more energetic for the next day.

\--

He couldn’t help it. It was Sunday evening and he was sitting in front of his laptop, going through all the files with vacation pictures. He had decided that he could show some to Jean and be like “You wanted me to tell you about all the places I travelled to, right? What a coincidence, I have some pictures on my laptop that I could show you.” on Monday, so he went through them and deleted the ones that were either blurry or absolutely useless. Why did he take a picture of a street light again? It looked the same like the ones they had here. He also eliminated the ones were he looked rather unflattering for good. No one needed to see that!

After that and a few half hearted lines for his novel which he had neglected over the weekend he decided that he was finished for the day.

\--

On Monday Marco was fidgety and nervous throughout the whole day. After he had printed a whole stack of papers he wanted to carry them back to his office, but he accidently tripped over a cable on the floor and spread them across the whole room. He spent the next hour trying to get them in the right order again, when Reiner stopped by and they went for a cigarette break.

Marco never smoked, but he always went along because it was a chance to leave the stifling office once in a while. He was also still on the mission to figure out if Reiner or Bertholdt dated Annie so he usually tried to pry in a subtle manner. He really meant it when he said subtle, because you don’t want to mess with Reiner, that’s never a pretty sight.

“So, Reiner, what have you been up to last weekend?” Marco’s motto was caution.

Reiner thought for a second while he lit his cigarette. “Nothing in particular, I was having dinner at a restaurant but that’s it actually. How about you, are you making any progress with your novel?”

Dinner at a restaurant, that did indeed sound like a date. But rather like he had been dating that person for a longer time, you wouldn’t go to a fancy restaurant if you’d have just met that person. True, he didn’t mention whether the restaurant was elegant or not but he assumed it was.

“Marco, are you still there?” he waved a hand in front of the other’s eyes.

“What? Oh yeah, I’m doing fine. It’s just difficult to stay focused and not stray from the main story line”, Marco explained. “But it’s not going to be that long anyways, so it’s alright.”

“I see.”

It was silent for a minute and Marco observed Reiner quietly. The wind tousled his hair and he pushed the strands energetically back, holding his cigarette with the other hand.

“Do you need betas for your story? I’d love to read it before everyone else.” Reiner looked at him again.

Marco nodded. “Sure, I haven’t even thought about that. It’d be an honour to have you as a beta-reader.”

Reiner laughed and buried his hands in his trouser pockets after finishing his cigarette, and Marco wasn’t sure about it but could it be that he was embarrassed by his joke right now? Marco smiled and bumped Reiner’s shoulder. “I’ll ask Bertholdt and Annie too, then you can all read it.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” The blond one looked at his watch. “We should probably go back again.”

\--

In the evening Marco arrived at the coffee shop, eager to talk to Jean about his various business trips. He didn’t even have to order, Jean just asked if he wanted ‘the usual’. He flashed him a smile and nodded. He couldn’t believe that he managed to become a regular customer that came here so often that the staff already started to remember his order.

He sat at the same table he always sat and worked on his novel. He didn’t know what he expected but he decided on staying just until closing time so he had a chance to talk to Jean when there were barely any customers left, at least that was the plan. It wasn’t like he had much exciting things to tell and usually he was very busy when he had to travel somewhere on business, but sometimes he had about half a day off and he had generally used that time to have a look around all the places he had visited.

It started to get late but Jean didn’t show any signs of planning to talk to him about his journeys. Marco glanced hopefully in his direction sometimes, but apparently Jean didn’t notice. Maybe he had never intended to speak further to him and that back then he was just being polite? That had to be it, he hasn’t made an attempt to talk to him at all today. Wouldn’t he have at least mentioned it when Marco had ordered his coffee in order to make sure that he knew that he was being serious? Yeah, probably. He knew that he would have done that. Which meant that he been gullible and got excited over something before using his head to think logically. He didn’t reproach Jean for that, it was his own fault. Marco shook his head in frustration and closed his laptop.

The journalist marched home, without giving Jean a second look.

\--

The next day at work he was still irritated when he thought of how stupid he had acted. Like an awkward high schooler he had been sitting at his table, hoping to get Jean’s attention.

“Pathetic”, he whispered and focused on his article. That day he had also realized that he was scheduled to go on a trip for the whole next week and he was already looking forward to it. First of all he could get a clear head and he was going to a warm place for a change.

Today Bertholdt accompanied Reiner and Marco during the cigarette break. Reiner offered them a cigarette as usual, and Marco was about to decline it, also as usual, but then he changed his mind.

“Whatever, just give me one”, he said after a second.

“Here you go”, Reiner handed him one. “Is the stress finally getting the better of you?”

“No, it’s just one of those days”, Marco said with a stretched sigh. He didn’t even like the bitter taste of the cigarette and coughed lightly when it filled his lungs.

“I-I thought you didn’t smoke?” asked Bertholdt.

Marco nodded. “I generally don’t, today’s just an exception.”

They were chatting a little bit, Marco had mentioned his trip for the next week and they had all agreed that he was going to smuggle Reiner and Bertholdt in his suitcase with him so they could enjoy the nice weather too. He also planned on going to the coffee shop again that evening. If he wouldn’t go it’d mean that he was sulking because of the day before and that’d lead to the conclusion that he cared, and if there was one thing that he didn’t want then it was getting too attached and fixed on someone he didn’t know and whom he had almost no connection with. He’d go there and he’d drink his coffee as if nothing had happened.

\--

Jean looked up again when he heard the door open. The day before Marco had left so suddenly, he hadn’t even noticed. He had actually planned to ask him again about his trips shortly before closing, because then there were no more people in the store that he had to attend to. Maybe Marco had been busy and had to leave earlier?

Jean wasn’t really enthusiastic about his job, frankly said he couldn’t care less. Nevertheless it was a job so he couldn’t complain. Both his and Connie’s plan was originally to save up some money and then go to college, but he wasn’t so sure if it was going to work out like that. But basically he intended to work there for about one or two more years and then he was gone again.

Marco was therefore only one of the few customers Jean still remembered. At first he hadn’t noticed him but since he had to clean up his mess he had recognized the freckled journalist again. He was the only one though who didn’t show up on a regular base. There was Maria, she was always picking up five cups of coffee for her office in the morning but just on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Rose usually stopped by to eat lunch every workday and Sina always showed up on Saturday morning.

The door opened again and this time he saw the brunet entering the coffee shop in his business outfit.

“The usual?” Jean asked when he approached.

Marco nodded. “You left so suddenly yesterday. You know, I was serious when I asked about your trips.”

Maybe Marco had thought that he had just said that for the sake of having a conversation, but he honestly wanted to know more.

The journalist’s eyes widened slightly, almost unnoticeable. “You have? I mean...You looked busy so I didn’t want to keep you from working.”

Jean prepared the cappuccino. “Never mind my work. Would you care to stay a little bit longer than yesterday, when it’s getting late there are fewer customers so it’s alright if one of us manages the counter alone.”

“Sure, if you insist”, Marco answered.

After Marco had taken a seat at his usual table Connie elbowed the tawny eyed one in his side and whispered, “Uh, your little journalist is here again. Let me tell you, he totally has the hots for you.”

“What, why would you say that? I don’t know if you’ve already noticed but he’s a guy.” Jean raised both of his eyebrows at Connie’s weird suggestion.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed that but thanks for pointing it out”, Connie replied. He wanted to make a sarcastic retort but there was a customer walking up to the counter so they had to stop their conversation.

When there were barely any customers still here, Jean left Connie in charge of the counter and walked up to Marco. He was sitting there, focused on his laptop while typing quickly. Jean assumed he was still working. He looked up when Jean approached him and offered him a smile.

“Are you working on an article or something?” Jean asked.

“Yeah, something like that”, Marco answered and closed the word document he had opened. “Just in advance, my trips were all pretty short and I didn’t have much free time, so basically I’ve been to a lot of places but not seen nearly as much as I would have liked. But there was this one time where we were stuck on an airport because there was a blizzard going on outside. I can tell you, we were everything but calm when we finally got on the plane because the weather was still bad.”

Marco was telling a few funny stories while Jean listened interested.

“You know what, I think I even have some pictures on my laptop”, Marco said with a giggle though Jean had no idea what he was laughing about. “If you want to see those?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Marco had pictures from all over the world, from Great Britain to India and even to New Zealand. The only thing Jean was really confused about was the fact that Marco had apparently taped his webcam shut. It was a bit distracting since Jean couldn't figure out why he'd do that.

“Everyone else was looking so serious in these pictures so I felt stupid being the only one grinning like an idiot. Therefore we all look extremely unimpressed but it’s actually quite funny if you look at them now”, Marco added when they were going through the ones from Italy.

He was indeed standing in front of various sights with two other men and they all stared at the camera as if they were having the worst day of their life. In one picture he could even see Marco struggling to not smile which was already hilarious for itself.

“Do you travel a lot, you seem to enjoy all the countries”, Marco asked.

Jean shook his head. “No, not that much.”

“Really, why is that?” Marco pressed on.

When he was younger he flew to France with his mum to visit his grandparents there and they had awfully strong turbulences during the flight. Jean had only been eight years old and since then he had been so afraid of flying that he had never stepped a foot in a plane again. But that sounded way too lame, he couldn’t tell him that.

“I guess I just never had the time”, he quickly brushed the topic off.

They went through a few more pictures before Marco mentioned something else. “I did film a few things too but I can’t show you now, since it’s going to be loud and stuff. But a colleague of mine, the one with the brown hair on the pictures made a few gifs for our website that I can show you.”

“You mean jifs?” Jean repeated.

Marco gave him a suspicious look. “No, I think I said gifs.”

“You do know that it’s pronounced ‘jif’ with a j at the beginning.” Jean said slightly irritated. This was not going in a good direction.

The journalist narrowed his eyes. “Nope, I am pretty sure that it is in fact pronounced ‘gif’.”

“The creator himself has stated that it’s pronounced ‘jif’”, Jean said with a victorious smile.

“The creator is therefore an idiot because the ‘g’ is an abbreviation for graphics which is not pronounced with a ‘j’ “, Marco retorted.

“It doesn’t matter what it stands for, if the creator says that it’s pronounced a certain way then that’s how it is.” Now Jean was starting to get annoyed. It was clear that he was right.

“No it’s not, just because the creator has said that doesn’t mean it’s right. Actually it’s grammatically wrong to say that it’s pronounced ‘jif’.” The journalist responded.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were a linguistic expert, my bad. And a creator can name a creation just how he wants to, regardless of how it’s ‘ _supposed_ ’ to be pronounced!” He didn’t even notice that he had started to raise his voice. “And also, who says ‘gif’ anyways, that makes you sound like an idiot.”

“Oh really, tell me more about it.” Marco stayed calm. “But it’s in fact not important how the creator names the creation if it’s completely wrong pronounced.”

“No, you don’t get it. The creator has the right to name his own creation, not some stupid know-it-all who thinks he is an expert in languages.” Jean was running out of arguments. He was convinced that he was right but Marco was being so stubborn. “I’m right and that’s final! Now excuse me, I have work to do.”With that he stood up and walked away while Marco stared at him dumbfoundedly.

He took the rag from the counter and threw it in the bucket with an angry growl. He was so damn right, he did not lose because he walked away. A few minutes Jean saw Marco leave, he didn’t say goodbye or turned around, he just walked straight out of the coffee shop. He had the nagging feeling that he might have said something untactful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to get this chapter finished, it took me quite a while and I apologize if it hasn't been as exciting as you might have expected.
> 
> Random fact of the day: I was on the bus to my hometown and a lot of people work on their laptops cause it takes a few hours, and I saw a guy that had his webcam taped shut and I have no idea why he did that. But it gave me the idea to mention that here. 
> 
> Once again, english is not my first language so feel free to point out any mistakes I made. Have a nice night or day and thank you so much for reading.


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